erspersed with a small blue wild flower.
Here and there were clumps of chapparal. But what pleased the lad most
was the fact that, although not far from them a rude hut stood upon the
bank, there was so far no sign of human occupancy of the place.

Seizing the steering oar, Jack ran the boat up alongside a spot where
the bank shelved gently down to the water's edge, and ran her, nose up,
on the sand.

"Hoo----" began Ralph jubilantly, his spirits carrying him away, but
Jack's hand was over his mouth in a second.

"The less noise we make the better," he breathed, stepping out of the
boat on tiptoe and signing to the others to do the same. With scarcely
a sound, they landed and stood at length on the grassy carpet sloping
down to the sandy beach.

So far not a sound had proceeded from the hut Jack turned to his
companions with a cautious gesture.

"Wait here while I investigate," he whispered, "and be ready to jump
back into the boat and shove off at a minute's notice."

They nodded and turned to obey, as Jack, as silently as he could, crept
on toward the hut, his revolver clasped ready for use at the slightest
alarm. The Border Boy did not mean to be caught napping. In this
manner he reached the wall of the hut nearest to the river, in which
there was a small, unglazed window. Cautiously raising himself on
tiptoe, Jack peered within.

In a rough chair, by a table covered with the untidy remains of a meal,
was seated an elderly Mexican, as shriveled and brown as a dried bean.
The regularity with which he was "sawing wood" showed that he was as
sound asleep as it is possible for a man to be. Still Jack knew that
there are men who sleep with one eye open, so he did not relax an iota
of his vigilance as he crept around the corner of the house. On the
opposite side he found a doorway, and, noiselessly gliding in, he had
the pistol to the Mexican's ear before whatever dreams the man might
have been having were even disturbed.

"Caramba, sanctissima! Santa Maria!" yelled the man, springing to his
feet as if propelled by springs. But the uncomfortable sensation of
the little circle of steel pressed to the nape of his neck brought him
back again into the chair in a second, trembling like a leaf, and
gazing in terror at the determined young figure standing over him.

"Keep quiet and I'll not hurt you," said Jack, adding as an
afterthought: "Do you speak English?"

"Me spiggoty 'Merican," sputtered the tremblin